A New Life
by Sora Means Sky
Summary: An AU story about Zack and Cody where one is taken by one parent, the other by another and experience different lives before meeting when they're fourteen. Will be kinda not really too dark. Genre ideas? *HIATUS*


It's hard to understand why at the last moment, the boy's father had wanted him. Why he wanted only one of his two sons as well was also hard to understand. But it had happened. The father had wanted him and the court allowed the barely infant sons to be separated, one taken by the mother, the other by the father. The mother only allowed it, hoping it would teach the father some responsibility.

The mother had taken the bigger and stronger of the two identical twins. Clearly, he had received more nutrients and such while the two were in their mother uterus. The other son, the one that the father had taken, was much smaller and had had more problems after birth. He had nearly been lost to that cold and dark place called death. But, through some twist of fate, he survived.

Time didn't stop and lives went on as they have a tendency of doing, especially in this busy modern day world. Both boys grew up in very different environments. One a hotel, the other a bus and various different mobile homes, motels, hotels, cars, airplanes and wherever else the boy and their parent could find to sleep that night.

While one's parent cared and worked trying to earn money to make their son's and their own life as easy and as comfortable as possible, etc, etc, the other made their money and spent it on girls, alcohol, bets he couldn't forward, etc, etc. And the two never knew the other existed, never knew they had another parent, though they did.

But, that twin who had been born weaker, and was only saved by a twist of fate, had another cruel bit of fate tossed upon him. His parent died.

And so, our story picks up, one raining day, after a funeral, in front of a tall Tipton Hotel in Boston…

Cody stood in front of the hotel, wearing black, a black back pack on his back, in disbelief of all that had happened in just the past few days. First, his father had died for an overdose and alcohol poisoning. Then he finds out that his mother is alive and on top of that, not only does he have a brother, but an identical twin brother. It was raining, but the fourteen year old teenager carried no umbrella and wore no rain coat. It was very humid out, due to it being the early summer.

A few people walked in and out of the hotel, but hardly a soul glanced at the boy dressed in black who stood there. Finally, a woman, probably in her mid to early thirties, walked outside. She was wearing a black knee length pencil skirt along with matching top and black high heeled shoes. She carried a black handbag and her short hair was neatly done. With a slight jar of surprise, she walked over to the wet teenager and said, "Hello. I knew you were Zack's twin, but I've never seen you before and so it still surprised me." She held her hand out.

She didn't sound too sad, but she didn't sound ecstatic either, somewhere in the middle. Cody held his hand out and allowed the women to shake his hand. 'So that's why she thinks of me? Zack's twin? Maybe she doesn't know my name… but, wouldn't she have known when I was born?' Cody stopped his thoughts after he realized the women was talking.

"Well, it would probably be odd for the both of us if you called me 'Mom,' so, just call me 'Carey.'" She finished.

"Okay," Cody said.

"Well, let's go up the suite," said Carey.

Cody nodded and followed the women as they walked into the hotel lobby and over to the elevators. Carey pressed the "up" button and soon the elevator door opened. A few people stepped out and Carey and Cody stepped in. Carey pressed the button to go to the appropriate floor. It was a tense few seconds until the doors opened up. The teen boy and the adult women made their way down the hall to the suite where Carey lived and opened the door. The hotel room seemed deserted.

"I suppose Zack's in his room, err, both of your guy's rooms. We managed to fit another bed in there. It might be a little cramped, but it should be okay. I'm sure you two will manage," Carey said a bit nervously. "You can go inside."

Cody gave a nod and walked over to the door Carey indicated as she walked over to the kitchenette to make some tea. Cody turned the doorknob and slipped inside, shutting the door behind him. In the middle of the room, a boy, identical to Cody, in nearly the everyway stood. The only few differences were, Cody was somewhat skinnier and his hair was styled differently, somewhat shorter then the other boys.

"That side's yours," said the boy pointing to the bed and dresser nearest the door. "And my name's Zack. You're Cody. Introductions finished. Stay out of my stuff." Zack left the room, leaving Cody in a bit of a stupor. After a minute or two, Cody walked over to his bed and pulled his backpack off and dumped his stuff onto his bed. There were some random textbooks collected from his last old school, a few notebooks and a few folders along with some pens and some stubs of pencils.

A pair of navy blue sweats and a matching long sleeve shirt fell out as well. These were all Cody's possessions he had left in the world. After his father's death, some of Cody's father's buddies ran off with the van that had been living with at the time. The rest of the random textbooks and Cody's clothes had been in that van and were long gone by now. So, all of his possessions were on him and before him. He didn't consider the bed or the dresser to be hid own, mainly because he had never owned a bed or dresser before. They had always been the ones that the hotels or motels owned.

Cody sighed and fell to his knees by the edge of the bed, resting his head on top of the bed, arms hanging at his sides.

Meanwhile, Zack and Carey were having a discussion in the kitchen.

"I don't want him in there."

"Where well else are we to put him?"

"Doesn't his dad or you or someone have relatives he could go live with?"

"Zack, he's your brother, your _twin_ brother."

"And that's all I've been hearing about since his dad-"

"Zack he's your dad too, so stop talking like that."

"_Fine_. That's all I've been hearing since _dad_ died. Maybe I don't want to be a twin. I don't even know him. Don't twins know everything about each other? Don't they have some special connection?"

"Zack, you have to understand things have been hard for him. Once me and your two's father divorced, and he took Cody, he turned down the wrong path. Cody hasn't had such a comfortable life as you and I."

"Mom, we live in a hotel."

"And he was living in a van when your father died."

"Alright, fine, I get your point. I'll try and be nice, but don't expect much."

"Thank you Zack." Carey scooped her song into a hug and planted a kiss on top of his head since she was still talker then him, though that wouldn't be for too much longer if Zack kept growing like a weed.

"Yeah, yeah," said Zack wiggling out of Carey's arms.

"Now, go get Cody and we'll go eat down in the restaurant. Patrick can get us a hidden booth if we ask," said Carey rummaging through a drawer looking for her checkbook. "You can introduce Cody to everyone around the hotel tomorrow."

"Okay, okay," said Zack and headed back into his room and said as Cody jerked his head up. "C'mon, we're going to go and eat in the hotel restaurant. You okay?"

Cody stood up and nodded and followed Zack out of the room and then Zack and Carey out of the hotel suite. They stepped into the elevator which, amazingly, hadn't been used since Cody and Carey came up earlier. They went down into the lobby and over to the where the entrance to the restaurant was.

"Could we get three for a booth in a corner?" Carey asked of the waiter.

"I'm afraid we're all booked out," said Patrick.

"Not even one booth left?"

"No, I'm sorry."

"C'mon, boys," said Carey, leading them towards the revolving hotel doors. "I guess we can grab some McDonald's tonight."

"Yeah!" said Zack. He might be fourteen, but he didn't mind hanging out with his parents as much as others kids. His mother could be pretty cool when she wanted and didn't try and suffocate him.

Cody on the other hand was silent. What was another night of fast food, or rather, any food at all? Usually he ate whatever was lying around or would have to sneak some money from his dad's wallet and buy something at a nearby gas station, drug store or fast food restaurant

They walked about two blocks before entering the fast food restaurant. "The usual Zack?" Carey asked.

"Yeah," said Zack, walking towards the back booths. He selected one that was in a corner.

"And what would you like Cody?"

"Umm… a four piece chicken nugget…" said Cody trailing off.

"You gotta eat more then that. I'll get you some fries and a Pepsi too. Sound good?"

"Yeah… That's what I usually get anyway," said Cody, leaving off the fact that he'd only get that if he had enough money.

"Well, go head back and sit with Zack."

After wandering through the maze of tables and booths, Cody sat down across from Zack and the two sat in silence.


End file.
